September 17, 1826

It was a sweltering walk to Maysville after the storm ended and the sun beat down, drying off the dirt road. Our four captors rode horseback and kept equidistant between one another. I played the fiddle for hours until my fingers bled. One of the young men holding the flag dropped from exhaustion and was beaten. The flag was handed off to the man beside him.

Roseberry’s Jim looked over at me and whispered, “What happened to you back in Millersburg? You was acting all strange. You need to keep your head about you. We’s all counting on you, Jasper.”

“I’m fine now. I think the heat was getting to me,” I says, trying to assure Jim I was fine, but I worried myself if I was going crazy seeing all dem elephants. The green coin in my pocket hummed and shook. It demanded I go back. It made me feel sick, but I had to move on.

We camped that night beside the road. I was dead tired and my feet was all blistered. I was all agitated and worried that I might fail. Jim sat beside me. The rest of the slaves sat in silence out of fear that we would be whipped if we talked.

Massa Edward ordered his servant, Lewis, to set up a tent and feed his horses.  He was quick to answer the massa’s calling, always smiling big. Lewis was always treated better than the rest of us and was allowed to eat with the owners. No one told Lewis that the massa was his papa, so we didn’t know if we could trust Lewis. 

That night an owl hooted in the trees above us. Mosquitos swarmed around us thick, making sleeping difficult. I thought about those big elephants and how they was like us all chained up. They talked to me and I understands them. They just want to be let go. I wanted to tell Jim about the elephants, but he would think I’d lost my mind, maybe I was. I held my tongue and didn’t say a word all night.

Massa Howard roused us from sleep well before the sun came up. “Get up you two. Play something lively to get these niggers on the road,” 

I staggered to my feet brushing the leaves and dirt from my hair and clothes. I was so tired and cold from lack of a good night’s sleep. My hands shook, but I still managed to play Turkey in the Straw. 

 We reached Maysville by late afternoon. It was a big thriving town, much bigger than Millersburg. All of us was dead tired. The bosses let us sit down beside the road in the dry grass. I laid down in the shade of an old Sycamore, looking up at the sky through the big leaves as they blew in the slight breeze. I could feel fall in the air. Some of those leaves done turned a golden brown and fell to the ground beside us. I worried that if the bullets didn’t get us, maybe the coming cold might.

“You stay here while I arrange for a flatboat,” Massa Edward said, as he and Howard goes walking towards this big ole house. We whispered among ourselves, plotting and planning how this revolt should happen. I was afraid our plans might get overheard by Lewis, who was tending to the horses.  White farmers would ride past us staring. I suppose we looked a sight. I had never seen a city this big since I was a boy. 

I sat up, looking back and caught Lizzie straining her neck looking for me in the crowd. I caught her eye and nodded. She shrugged her shoulders and I winked. She returned a nervous smile. Roseberry’s Jim leaned over and whispered, “We’s all countin’ on you, Jasper. You was actin” all strange back there. Started playing some tune I ain’t never heard befo’. You starting talkin’ all crazy and I was afraid the boss was gonna hear you. We needs you to be ready when the time comes.”

“I think maybe the sun was gettin’ to me. I ‘spect this rest will do me good.” 

I sat back against the tree staring down at the wide river. I could barely make out the other side. White folk were milling about down at the docks. Big river boats were tied to the bank. I wondered which one would be ours. It scared me knowing that I couldn’t swim a lick. I hoped that when the time come, I wouldn’t have to jump in water over my head.

A while later, Massa Edward and his nephew Howard comes riding back. “The flatboat’s ready by the dock. David you and James go right ahead and load these niggers right away. I’ll be right back after I go pay the fee,” he says, waving and pointing towards the river.

“Get up you lazy niggers. You heard the boss,” said the young man with the red beard. I goes and checks my fiddle just to make sure the key was still up inside. 

We got to our feet. My lips were all parched and dry. I wanted a drink of water so bad. I hoped they would give us water once we were on the boat.

Down at the docks, they marched us row by row onto a flatbed boat, and ran a chain through our shackles, and locked them securely at each end of the boat. We sat down facing forwards, looking at one another with shock and fear, too afraid to say a word.  I look over and sees Lizzie holding her head down with tears in her eyes. 

Near the rear of the boat, Massa kept his horses and food. Massa Edward and Howard set up shop in the covered part of the boat down below deck, while Mr Cobb and Mr Wood be guiding the boat with oars and long poles. The two men pushed the boat away from the muddy banks, into the deep water with their long poles. There was a cool breeze on the river. The sun would catch the ripples in the water making it sparkle and dance, almost blinding me. When we got out to the middle of the river, the men finally decided to give us a drink of water. I was so thirsty I wanted to drink more, but I only got one dipper full to last me. 

We passed all sorts of boats on the river. Some people gave us a nasty look. We was just another animal, no different than pigs or mules to them. There were a few times that the river got shallow in places. The men used the poles to push the boat along and we could feel the bottom hitting rocks and mud which would make the boat rock and jerk. Sometimes this jerking was so strong that it made our bodies slam forwards. 

We stayed on the river five days before landing in Louisville. I been waiting for Roseberry’s Jim to give me a sign when we should try to make our escape. Our boat had pulled into the dock in Louisville where a rich white man named, Davis, came aboard. Now this Davis man seemed to be a friend to Massa Edward. I hear them talking like old pals laughing and joking.

It was a good thing that Mr Davis came aboard. The two of them would get drunk and brag about who made the most money in the trade. Jim whispers to me that they were looking for a certain landmark that they were supposed to see some miles after leaving Louisville.. Three white trees leaning over the bank and if it be dark, there would be three lanterns lit in the trees. We were told to look for the signs.

All that day we watched the far shore, yet we saw no sign of three white trees. “Do you think we missed it?” I whispered to Jim. “I saw some white trees, but three together. Do you think they cut a tree down?”

“I been watching, but if we don’t find it by tomorrow, we go anyway.”

I was scared. Jim said Resin knowed for sure about the trees and we was supposed to trust this guy. The crew rowed the flatboat to the Kentucky side of the river for the night. When we had to poop or pee, we would pass a bucket. When we was done, we would hand it off to Lewis. He was the only slave not chained up, being that he was Massa Edwards personal servant. It was his job to fetch us water, empty slop buckets, and tend to the horses. None of us trusted Lewis. 

Everyone of us were jumpy as frogs. Spent all day searching for signs. Jim sat beside me looking towards the shore wringing his hands. He ain’t said nearly a word all that day.  

Early the next morning as the morning sun rose above the horizon, I watched some turtles, probably a dozen warming themselves on a floating log, when I noticed the trees. Three large sycamores leaning out over the river on the far banks. That had to be the landmark. I nudged Jim in the shoulder and pointed to the far side with a nod of my head in that direction. He sat up straight and eyed the shore. He turned to me and nodded, yes. I took a deep breath, looked around to see if the white folk were watching, and when I was certain they weren’t, I slipped my fingers up inside the fiddle and pulled the key loose from the wax. I turned the fiddle over and the key fell into my hands. I slid the key across the deck to Jim. He snatched the key and snapped his head forward as Mr Cobb walked past us eyeing us curiously. 

“What you two up to?” Mr Cobb said, putting his hands on his hips.

“Nothin’, Massa. I just gots to poop.” Jim said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah, okay.” Mr Cobb whistled through his teeth with one quick tweet. “Lewis bring the slop jar over here. This nigger’s ‘bout to shit himself,” he said with a chuckle.

Mr Cobb walked away as Jim looked me in the eyes and scrunched his face. I wondered if he really had to poop. I was scared that he might get caught. My arms started to shake and I was breathing heavy. The fear of getting caught was making me sick.

Lewis walked over to Jim and handed him the pot. Jim nodded his head and whispered, “Thank ya.”

Jim pulled his drawers down and slid the pot under his ass. He strained and pushed, and finally produced a turd. He let out a sigh of relief and held up the pot for Lewis to take. As Jim was pulling up his drawers, he unlocked himself from the chains and did the same for me. He slid the key to the man sitting directly behind him. 

I sat with my head down, trying to keep from shaking. Time seemed to slow down. Minutes felt like hours waiting for a sign.

Jim glanced back to the men in the rear. Resin, one of the young men kept locked up in the basement, who sat next to Duke, nodded his head and Jim nodded back. Resin jumped to his feet, grabbing Mr Cobb from behind, pulling him down to the deck, and holding his hand tightly over the frightened man’s mouth. The rest of us sat wide eyed with fear as Resin choked the life from the man, till his body fell limp. Duke picked up the man’s pistol and crept quietly towards the front of the boat. 

Mr Wood stood near the front of the flatboat with a long pole in his hand, when he heard the scuffle behind him.

“Hey, Dave, what’s going on back there? Everything okay?” he said, pulling up the pole and lying it on the deck.

Duke, Resin and a few of the other men managed to make it halfway to Massa’s cabin by the time Mr Wood pulled his rifle and shot at Resin, grazing his shoulder. 

Jim got to his feet, following Mr Wood, who ran past him. As Mr Wood attempted to reload his rifle, Jim jumps him from behind causing the rifle to fall on the deck. There was a struggle, but Mr Wood was overpowering Jim.

“Take his gun. Take his gun, Jasper,” Jim says to me.

I looked back as the other men rushed the cabin. I heard a gunshot so I dropped to the floor. Mr Wood punched Jim in the eye, knocking him to the deck. I got up and ran to the rifle. I picked it up and pointed it at Mr Wood. 

“Let him go or I’ll shoot.”

“Now Jasper, you don’t want to do that,”  he said, creeping closer, and then he rushed me. He got to me befo’ I could shoot, and wrestled the rifle from my hands. Jim punched him again from behind, then grabbed the gun, and smacked Mr Wood hard in the back of his head with the butt of the rifle.

Duke, Resin, Stephen, and Wesley surprised Massa Edward, his nephew  Howard, and Mr Davis, while they was eatin’ breakfast. They beat the men before they could grab their rifles. 

Lewis ran to the cabin to find the four men punching Massa Edward and his rich friend, Mr Davis. Lewis be hollern, “Stop, You gonna kill him! Let him go!”

A group of us peeped inside the cabin to get a look. Edward was covered in blood and laughing, saying how he was gonna kill the whole lot of us. Duke smacked him in his face with the rifle bloodying his upper lip.

Massa’s servant, Lewis, rushed at Duke trying to wrestle the gun from his hands. 

“Leave him alone. I ain’t being no part in this rebellion Massa Edward,” Lewis said, as Duke shoved the boy to the deck.

“He don’t like you, Lewis. You just another house nigger to him. He sooner kill you than look at you,” Duke said, pointing the rifle at Lewis.

Massa’s friend, Mr Davis, cowered in the corner with broken teeth lying at his feet, while Howard lie dead in a pool of blood. His head had been caved in from the butt of a rifle and Stephen’s bloody fists.

“He’s got a knife!” Resin yelled. 

Duke turned and rammed the butt of the rifle into Mr Davis’s neck, but not before, Mr Davis sliced Duke’s arm.

Sneaky ole Massa Edward got to his feet and grabbed Stephen around the neck in a choke hold. Resin pulls Massa Edward loose and Stephen starts to punching Massa Edward in the face.

“I hates you, Massa Edward. I hates that you put this brand on my forehead. You gonna die right now like a stuck pig.”

Lewis jumped up again and tried to wrestle Steven off of Massa Edward, but Resin and Wesley grabbed him, held him down and beat the boy.

“Give me a damned knife. I’m gonna give you the same thing you gave me,” Steven said, slamming Massa’s head into the floorboards again.

Jo handed him a knife, and Steven carved the letter R into his forehead. Edward screamed and cursed as the blood ran from his wound filling his eyes. Jo grabbed Massa Edward by the hair and pulled his head backwards exposing his neck.

“You gonna die today Massa Edward. You let my son bleed to death, you lowly skunk,” Jo growled looking into Massa’s bloodshot eyes. 

Stephen punched Massa Edward hard in the throat and he started gasping fo’ air. Duke, Resin, and Jo kicked Massa Edward in the sides until he stopped moving. Lewis screamed and lay on the floor at Massa’s feet.

Wesley grabbed Lewis and pulled him to his feet. “We should kill him too,” he said laughing.

“Leave him be, boy. Lewis is a slave like the rest of us,” Jo says trying to end the violence.

“I ain’t like the rest of you. Massa Edward treats different than the rest of you,” Lewis boasted.

“That’s ‘cause he you daddy. He took your momma and raped her. That’s how you got here.” Jo says.

“It ain’t true. He would never do that to my momma,” Lewis cried.

“It true Lewis. Yo momma, Lucy, told me herself,” I says peeping in the door.

Lewis lay on the floor beside his fallen Massa. We closed the door and left him alone.

I was scared, more than I ever been before. The rest of us be pacing all nervous, hoping to make it to the other side of the river before other boats would notice. 

Resin and Duke tried to use the poles to push us farther to the other shore. Some of us were considering jumping in the river and swimming to the other side.

I runs over and finds Lizzie sitting on the deck crying. I sat down beside her and put my arm around her shoulder.

“What ‘er we gonna do when we get to the other side? I’m scared they gonna kill us for sure. They killed the Massa and all his friends.”

“When we get to the other side, We’re gonna run as far north as we can go. They can’t kill us if they can’t find us.”